No such thing as a caretaker
by DragonRyuuji
Summary: Ryuuji is sick, and it falls on the extremely under-experienced Taiga to nurse him back to health. Short fluff-piece, set sometime after the events of "And it happened on a christmas night", though reading that is in no way needed to understand this short story.


A/N: Whoops. As you can see, I'm still kind of stuck on the whole Yukuri's vacation home storyline, so what better than to neglect that for a while longer and put up something completely different? Yeah, I'm a horrible person. Anyway, this is a breath of fresh air for me, because writing up something short is a good way to try and get back in touch with my creativity, or whatnot. This is still in the universe of my "And it happened on a christmas night" fic, but set sometime after the conclusion of that. This is quite literally just a fluff-piece, done by request. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

She's usually a heavy sleeper. Usually. Most mornings she'll be in the exact same position she was in when she fell asleep, unless she's been sleepwalking, which does tend to happen every now and again.

She's usually a heavy sleeper, but tonight, she shifts. A lot. She's twisting and turning, and she doesn't seem to stop doing exactly that for hours on end. She's still asleep. Whatever's bothering her isn't enough to wake her, but it is clearly enough to make her complain through physical motion where she's lying on the double futon, writhing like a snake. The boy next to her seems to be saying something. Or, rather, mumbling incoherently. There's something on his skin. A glistening layer of sweat, protruding from just about every pore in his face. Even his hair is wet.

And it is this heat that makes the girl shift. A struggle between two opposing forces – the subconscious urge to cuddle up next to her boyfriend, versus the urge to get away from this unbearable heat that seems to be coming from the boy's body. This struggle continues until morning, when the first hint of a rising sun peeks over the horizon – though of course it doesn't enter their window due to one gigantic apartment building straight across from their small home.

It is 6 am, and Taiga is awake. She's just lying there, staring at the watch, half asleep, wondering why she's awake at such an ungodly hour. Even weirder is the fact that she can feel Ryuuji at her back. He's usually awake, cooking breakfast at this hour. Is he the one who woke her?

"Not now, Ryuuji, it's too early." She groans, closing her eyes. All she gets is some kind of moan in return. "And it's definitely too early for that. Try again in two hours." She yawns, but Ryuuji makes another odd sound. "Seriously, what is-" she's speaking as she turns around to face him, and freezes right up at what she sees. He's wet. Really, really, really wet.

Taiga has no idea what to do, or what the problem is. The only one who'd know that kind of stuff is Ryuuji, so she grabs his shoulders and starts shaking his entire body so he can wake up and tell her what the hell is going on.

"Ryuuji, come one." She urges, and eventually, he does wake up. Not with a jolt, or even a start. His eyes just seem to flicker open, and just as he's about to say something, he stops himself for a moment. "Ryuuji, what?"

"Bucket." Is all he is able to muster up.

"What?" Taiga retorts.

"I need a bucket." He repeats, and he's going incredibly pale where he's lying. It seems that the reality of the situation is slowly starting to settle on Taiga, but it really is a slow process.

"Oh." She whispers eventually, and then she bursts into action, running around the tiny apartment with the stress level of a rabbit trying to outrun a wolf. "Bucket!" She yells, having no idea where they keep this kinda stuff. Ryuuji is the one in charge of all of that. She suddenly hears a bump from Yasuko's room, and a low voice.

"Next to the bathroom." She hears, muffled through the wall. She nods to herself and runs towards the bathroom, opening the door to the little closet next to it. She sees an electric green bucket, and as she grabs it she tears down just about everything else that has been shoved inside that tiny closet, but she has no time to mind that now. She rushes back to their room and practically throws the bucket at Ryuuji's face before turning to look at the wall instead of the mess that's about to happen.

Taiga can hear that Ryuuji is just about to burst, but he manages to force out another word or two. He's actually giving her instructions. Damn, he's nitpicky, she thinks.

"Water."

"I'll get you water, but finish up with that first." She practically yelps in return.

"No, water, in the bottom of the bucket." Ryuuji heaves.

"Why would I need to put water in-"

"Do you want to wash out my puke from this bucket by hand?!" He manages to yell, and as the realization hits Taiga, she grabs the bucket, fills it with water from the kitchen, and returns in a hurry. What happens next is something she hopes she will one day come to forget.

And the next thing after that is even worse.

"Taiga." Ryuuji mumbles, after a particularly brutal session of throwing up. "Taiga, can you empty this in the toilet?"

"Uh, no." She says, back still turned to Ryuuji.

"Taiga, it's gonna stink."

"I am not pouring _that_ down anything. Just the thought is… is…" She swallows hard. But this is the reality of it, she guesses. She lifts her hand and gazes long and thoughtfully at the engagement ring on her finger. "Okay. Time to be a wife."

"You're not my-"

"Not yet, but I have to practice." She retorts, and she turns around to face Ryuuji. There's a gentle smile on his face now, which seems even nicer when she knows he's suffering. So she proceeds to do the dirty work, and afterwards she's just pacing the kitchen, trying to figure out how to actually take care of someone who is sick. She really has no idea. "Ah, water!" She says, triumphantly, and brings a huge glass of water that she sets down next to Ryuuji, who is lying on his back and breathing heavily.

"Okay, now, you can-" He starts, but Taiga won't have it.

"No!" She yells. "I have to figure this out on my own. I don't want to be a useless wife."

"Well," Ryuuji starts, and he's actually chuckling a little at her stubbornness. "You have to learn somewhere first."

"You're sick, you should rest, not tell me what to do." Taiga replies, matter-of-factly. Ryuuji groans a little, but seems to give in to her order. She then returns to the kitchen, and… well, returns to the pacing. Suddenly, she hears something.

"Pssst."

"Huh?"

"Pssst, Taiga."

Taiga turns, and sees Yasuko, currently peeping out from the door to her room. She's waving Taiga over. When she gets close to Yasuko, she puts her hand behind Taiga's ear and whispers to her.

"Medical kit on the wall in the kitchen. Take his temperature, and bring him a cold, wet cloth for his forehead."

"How did you-" Taiga starts, but is cut short by a sly smile on Yasuko's face.

"Thin walls. Go be a good wife, now."

"Thank you, Yacchan." Taiga bows, which is quite unusual, and then goes to get the stuff Yasuko mentioned. She's kneeling over Ryuuji when she's taking his temperature, the wet cloth already in place on his forehead, which seems to relieve at least some of his suffering.

"So?" Ryuuji asks, peeking up at her through one open eye.

"40. Is that bad?" She asks, and it's clear that she has no idea, just staring at the thermometer she has just pulled out of Ryuuji's ear.

"That's… not the best." He groans. "That qualifies as a hefty fever."

"Hefty… fever… 40 degrees…" Taiga repeats slowly, and Ryuuji can hear scribbling.

"Are you actually writing this stuff down?" He asks, an incredulous look on his face.

"Well, duh," Taiga says, absentmindedly from where she's jotting down notes in a little notebook. "You can't expect me to remember this kind of stuff by heart."

…

An hour later, she's made him tea. One wouldn't think it was just tea, considering how the kitchen looks like it's been bombed, but a cup of tea really is all she's left with. To begin with, she didn't have any clue as to what kind of tea she was supposed to make, it was only after she heard Yasuko cough and whisper the word 'ginger' that Taiga… well, not even then, really.

"Which one is that?" Taiga asks, an intense look in her eyes as she looks up at Yasuko, who's in the middle of making breakfast before she heads out to work the bakery. Yasuko simply giggles and grabs a whole ginger from the fridge. She didn't know this stuff herself before Ryuuji taught her.

"This one." She says, gently, and proceeds to teach Taiga how to make ginger tea, careful not to let Ryuuji hear that she's actually helping her. "Okay, now, I'm going to work." She smiles, plants a kiss on Taiga's forehead, and goes to put on her shoes. Before she disappears out the door, she stops by the kitchen one last time. "Oh, and also… you should dress him down and wipe away his sweat."

That leaves Taiga horrified and dumbfounded, but she decides to save that sorrow until after Ryuuji has finished his tea.

…

"Someone has been sleeping in my bed! Papa bear said, shocked and angry." Taiga is reading from a children's book, and trying her very best to be sincere, but she's having so much trouble getting into it that her eyebrows are twitching, and the words are coming out of her mouth like knives. Ryuuji is next to her, trying his best to sip his tea while still lying down.

"You really don't have to read to me, Taiga." He says, and it's clear that he's trying not to hurt her feelings.

"I do have to! You're sick, and I'm taking care of you, so-"

"Taiga."

"I don't want to hear it, young man!"

"Taiga."

"No! Don't you dare try to make this easy on me. I have to learn."

"Taiga!" She stops, looking down at him with surprise written all over his face. "It's a children's book. I'm nineteen."

"Oh." She says, and there's some genuine disappointment in her eyes. She actually looks kind of sad, and that breaks Ryuuji's heart.

"Hey." He says, and struggles a bit to sit up so he can be level with his girlfriend. "One day, you can read this to our kids. They'll love it. You're doing great." Ryuuji comforts, stroking her arm gently.

"I'm gonna wipe off your sweat now!" Taiga actually yells, and it scares the living hell out of Ryuuji. He doesn't even have time to reply before Taiga screams; "Strip!" This is a sudden turn of events that Ryuuji hasn't really expected, but he does as he's told while Taiga goes to get a clean cloth and a bucket of water.

When she returns to the room, Ryuuji is lying there in only his boxers, splayed out on his back.

"N-No!" Taiga utters.

"No?" Ryuuji repeats back to her, confused.

"This won't do!" She rushes over to him, sets the bucket down, and proceeds to remove his boxers. He is too tired and sick to fight back. Taiga is shaking all over, as if there's some way she could get this wrong, even though it's just rubbing a piece of wet cloth on his body. But a sort of peace falls over her a while after she begins, when she realizes that for once – just once – she is the one making sure Ryuuji is okay. And one day, when she has the experience, she'll level the playing field. There will be no such thing as a single caretaker in this family, she thinks, no Sir.

And it puts her heart even more at ease when Ryuuji sighs in relief at the feeling of the cold cloth wiping his body, both cooling him down and cleaning off the sweat he's gathered up through the night. Taiga is focused, eyes wide, hands hard at work. She feels like she's seeing his body from a new perspective, suddenly. She's seen him naked plenty of times, but this is different.

Ryuuji falls asleep with his head in Taiga's lap, and she doesn't move. She won't risk waking him. So she sits there, way past the point where her knees start hurting. She simply sits there, stroking her hand through her boyfriend's hair, wondering if he's dreaming about her. After a sleepily mumbled 'I love you' from the boy, she's content.

…

The next morning, Ryuuji is as spry as ever, as if he was never sick to begin with. "Taiga." He whispers, lying on his side next to the girl, planting a gentle kiss on her temple. She stirs slightly. "You want breakfast?"

"Breakfast." She mumbles, her eyes flickering to life ever so slowly. She glances sideways at Ryuuji, and it's clear to her that he's feeling a lot better than the day before. That's when the idea hits her. "Oh, noooo," she drawls, quite dramatically. "If I have breakfast… I'll throw up."

"Are you not feeling well, Taiga? Did you catch my fever?" Ryuuji asks worriedly.

"Yes, definitely." She says, and coughs way more than she should, before looking at him again. "I am so warm and sweaty, and you have to wipe me down from head to toe." Her eyes flicker back and forth, and there's a childish tint to her voice. Ryuuji simply groans out loud.

"You idiot." He sighs, standing up to get dressed.

"What? I'm serious!" She complains, sitting up quite abruptly.

"Taiga." Ryuuji says, tilting his head as he looks at her.

"Ugh, fine." She mumbles, crossing her arms over her chest. "It just seemed so nice when I did it to you."

"You're way too silly." Ryuuji smiles, and just as Taiga is about to complain, he's kneeling down and kissing her. It doesn't even take a split second before she leans into it, a high pitched, pleased noise escaping her throat. After a while, he parts from the kiss and leans his forehead against hers. "I promise, I'll wipe you down some other time. But I didn't eat at all yesterday, so I'm going to go make breakfast." Taiga nods, looking at Ryuuji with those eyes she sometimes gets – as if she's falling in love with him all over again.

"Ryuuji," she says, making him turn in the door as he's about to leave the room. She's standing up now, which is a surprise to him, seeing as how he was expecting her to go back to sleep until breakfast is ready. "Can you teach me how to make something… breakfast-like?"

He is just standing there, smiling at this girl who wants so bad to become better. To become an adult. "Sure." He says, holding out his hand, which she grabs onto. "Let's start with french toast."


End file.
